Researchers at the National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) have developed a technique to generate antigens for small molecular substances, such as antibiotics, preservatives or pesticides, which does not initiate an immune response in the body, paving the way for applications in food safety inspections and vaccine development.
NTNU biology professor Wang Yu-chie (王玉麒), who led the team of researchers, said only large-molecule foreign objects or infectious agents can elicit an immune response in the body, while haptens — small molecules that do not induce immune response unless bound with large carrier proteins to trigger antibody generation — exist in large numbers in the environment, such as endocrine disruptors, food additives, antibiotics or carbohydrate chains on a cancerous cell.
Research has been conducted on using cross-linking agents to connect haptens with carrier proteins and inject the hapten-protein conjugates into laboratory animals to generate immunogens — antigens that are capable of inducing proper immune responses — but such methods are overcomplicated and time consuming, while technical difficulties and instabilities remain to be overcome, Wang said.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
Wang’s team developed a way to bind haptens into large molecule aggregates using cross-link agents or haptens’ specific structures without the need to attach them to carrier proteins, he said.
Animals vaccinated with hapten aggregates could successfully produce corresponding antibodies and immune responses, he said.
The team is able to produce immunogens for melamine — a toxic chemical implicated in the 2008 Chinese milk scandal — in three hours, while conventional methods that attach melamine to carrier proteins take five to eight days, he said.
The antiserum produced with hapten aggregates is more concentrated than those produced with hapten-protein conjugates and could be used directly without further purification, whereas carrier proteins would trigger other antibodies in animals, thereby reducing the generation of target immunogens, he said.
The hapten-induced immunogens could be used to screen prohibited food additives or pesticides, detect contaminants and develop vaccines, Wang said, adding that the team has already acquired a patent in the US and is seeking cooperation.
The team’s goal is to develop fast screening kits for a variety of toxins, chemicals and organic matters that could only be detected with large, expensive equipment, making it possible to conduct inexpensive, instant and on-site screening at factories, slaughterhouses or customs, he said.
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